Total bridges
736
Public highway bridges in Guilford County
County profile · official public datasets
Guilford County, NC
736 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.8% rated Good, 42.9% Fair, 5.3% Poor.
- 736
- Public bridges
- 51.8%
- Good condition
- 5.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Guilford County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.
- 55th
- of 100 on Poor share
- 5.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 736
- public highway bridges
- 1990
- avg year built
Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.
Guilford County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Guilford County ranks #55 of 100 North Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.3%). Guilford County, North Carolina contains 736 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.8% are rated “Good,” 42.9% “Fair,” and 5.3% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.
Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.
Good condition
51.8%
381 of 736 rated 7-9
Fair condition
42.9%
316 of 736 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5.3%
39 of 736 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#55 of 100
Among North Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 736 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 51.8% (381)
Fair 42.9% (316)
Poor 5.3% (39)
Guilford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 403,430 vehicle crossings a day
That is 4.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,344 crossings a day against 10,725 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.
Computed over the 736 of 736 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
28.5% of Guilford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
210 of the 736 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 51.8% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.
Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
One structure carries 12.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SR2254 over SOUTHERN RAILROAD, built 1968, carries 52,000 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 39-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 403,430 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Guilford County's bridges were built
736 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 12
1920–1929
12 bridges
- 1930s 12
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s 71
1950–1959
71 bridges
- 1960s 70
1960–1969
70 bridges
- 1970s 66
1970–1979
66 bridges
- 1980s 63
1980–1989
63 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
89 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
181 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
132 bridges
- 2020s 31
2020–2029
31 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 181 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1990) matches the North Carolina average (1986).
How Guilford County compares with North Carolina's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 North Carolina counties nearest Guilford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1986 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 99 North Carolina counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wake County | 760 | 53.8% | 40.4% | 5.8% | 1992 |
| Mecklenburg County | 746 | 46.4% | 51.1% | 2.5% | 1989 |
| Guilford County (this page) | 736 | 51.8% | 42.9% | 5.3% | 1990 |
| Buncombe County | 555 | 34.6% | 58.4% | 7% | 1978 |
| Forsyth County | 454 | 41.2% | 49.8% | 9% | 1985 |
| Randolph County | 401 | 45.6% | 52.9% | 1.5% | 1988 |
Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Guilford County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Guilford County, both outside North Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NC (736 bridges here).
- Sacramento County, CA · 740 bridges
- Champaign County, IL · 727 bridges
- Fairfax County, VA · 751 bridges
- Pulaski County, AR · 721 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NC (1990 here).
- Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
- Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
- Brazoria County, TX · avg 1990 · 618 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (316)
SR2824
FairOver: PRONG NORTH BUFFALO CRK.
0.4 MI. E. JCT. SR2732, Guilford, NC
Built 1997 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,100
SR2777
FairOver: ROCKY BRANCH
1.25 MI. E. JCT. SR2733, Guilford, NC
Built 1996 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 160
SR2719
FairOver: PRONG BUFFALO CREEK
0.1 MI. S. JCT. SR2797, Guilford, NC
Built 1991 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 900
SR1005
FairOver: CHOCOLATE CREEK
0.45 MI. E. JCT. SR3115, Guilford, NC
Built 1987 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,700
SR3346
FairOver: CREEK
1.3 MI. N. JCT. SR3351, Guilford, NC
Built 1988 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 750
SR3370
FairOver: CLIMAX CREEK
0.5 MI E JCT SR3381, Guilford, NC
Built 1979 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 100
US29
FairOver: BUFFALO CREEK
0.6 MI. S. JCT CONE BLVD., Guilford, NC
Built 1948 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 31,750
BOTHWELL STREET
FairOver: STREAM OFF BUFFALO CREEK
0.25 MI. E. JCT.MLK JR DR, Guilford, NC
Built 1965 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 1,000
CEDROW DRIVE
FairOver: BRANCH
0.1 MI.E.JCT.RUNYAN ST., Guilford, NC
Built 1965 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 3,000
W.CORNWALLIS DRIVE
FairOver: BR. OF BUFFALO CREEK
.05MI.E.JCT.BENJAMIN PKWY, Guilford, NC
Built 1965 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 3,100
GLENHAVEN DRIVE
FairOver: STREAM
0.01MI.S.JCT.MEADOWVIEW, Guilford, NC
Built 1962 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 800
SOUTH HOLDEN ROAD
FairOver: SOUTH BUFFALO CREEK
.10 MI.N.JCT.I40, Guilford, NC
Built 1967 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 23,500
SR3303
FairOver: BRANCH S. BUFFALO CREEK
0.25 MI. E. JCT. SR3300, Guilford, NC
Built 1950 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 2,300
SR1145
FairOver: RICHLAND CREEK
1.3 MI. N. JCT. NC62, Guilford, NC
Built 1981 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 800
SR3476
FairOver: HOLDER CREEK
0.2 MI. S. JCT. SR3418, Guilford, NC
Built 1991 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 100
SR1258
FairOver: JENNY BRANCH
0.5 MI. S. JCT. SR1129, Guilford, NC
Built 1997 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 30
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.